All Policy articles – Page 3
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NewsTPR updates climate risks guidance
On the go: The Pensions Regulator has updated its guidance on climate-related risk requirements to include mention of the “portfolio alignment metric”, which affected schemes have had to provide since October 1.
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NewsPPF to slash levy by more than £400mn in two years
The Pension Protection Fund is to slash its levy by more than £400mn by 2023-24, after a review found strong investment performance and a reduced risk of claims.
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PodcastsPodcast: Webb - Opperman achieved but ‘got sidetracked easily’
Podcast: LCP partner Sir Steve Webb gives his view on Guy Opperman’s time as pensions minister, and discusses under-saving in defined contribution and a local council investment scandal.
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NewsInflation presents ‘considerable risk’ to DC pension pots
Skyrocketing inflation figures pose unique challenges for defined contribution pension schemes as memberships surge to record highs, according to the Pensions Policy Institute’s DC Future Book.
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NewsDerbyshire among funds at risk in £138mn solar farm scandal
The Derbyshire Pension Fund is among a number of public sector institutions with members’ money invested in a scandal-hit council investment project that has seen £138mn in public money go missing.
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NewsLGA calls for mandatory national insurance data in dashboards
The Local Government Association has argued that making national insurance numbers optional data will lead to a “poor experience” for pensions dashboards users, and has called for the government to make it a mandatory feature.
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PodcastsPodcast: Pension tax changes needed to save NHS from ‘rock bottom’
Podcast: Staff shortages and ever-growing waiting lists have left the NHS at “rock bottom”, but the government “has its head in the sand”. Changes to the pensions taxation regime are essential to fix the problem, argues Vishal Sharma, pensions committee chair at the British Medical Association. He is joined by Mark Bondi, council member at the Society of Pension Professionals and senior technical consultant at Capita, to discuss the NHS, the High Court’s retail price index decision, and pension priorities for new prime minister Liz Truss.
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NewsLabour would scrap pensions tax cap to boost NHS staff
On the go: Labour’s shadow Health and Social Care secretary, Wes Streeting, has pledged to do away with the cap above which NHS workers incur additional tax burdens, in a bid to dissuade experienced staff from retiring.
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NewsTriple lock, NHS and merging regulators on Liz Truss’s agenda
The new prime minister faces a host of economic problems, ranging from the cost of living crisis to the staffing crisis in the NHS as she enters Number 10, industry experts have said, with all eyes on the government’s forthcoming “fiscal event”.
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NewsBT, Ford and M&S schemes consider appealing against RPI judgment
On the go: The trustees of the BT, Ford and Marks and Spencer schemes are considering whether to appeal against the judgment handed down by the High Court, which struck down their judicial review against the government’s plans to axe the retail price index.
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News‘Millions to lose out’ as court rejects RPI reform appeal
Industry commentators have warned that millions of pensioners stand to “lose out” after the High Court rejected a judicial review, brought by some of the country’s largest defined benefit schemes, against the government’s plans to replace the retail price index with the consumer price index including housing.
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NewsStrikes ‘likely’ over TfL pension changes as funding deal reached
Changes to the TfL Pension Fund will be required as part of a financial support package agreed between the government, Transport for London and the mayor of London, with a plan to be presented in September. But unions have rejected the deal, and warned that more strikes are “likely”.
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NewsLGPS calls for ‘future-proofing’ benefits against discrimination
On the go: The chair of the Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board, councillor Roger Phillips, has written to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities asking for reforms to discriminatory death and survivor benefits in the LGPS, and to protect the scheme against future legal challenges.
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News‘Disingenuous’ pension proposals will not fix NHS staffing crisis
The government’s proposed pension rules tweaks around “retire and return” for some NHS Pension Scheme members, in a bid to tackle the mounting staff retention crisis, have been criticised by commentators who argue that the changes do not go far enough.
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NewsCivil service union issues strike ultimatum
The Public and Commercial Services Union has threatened the government with strikes in the civil service unless it accedes to demands for improved pay, pensions and job security.
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NewsFirefighters’ options exercise requires ‘corrective action’
On the go: “Corrective action” is required for certain members of the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme, after a number of Fire and Rescue Authorities failed to conduct an options exercise properly.
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NewsPPI: More data needed on ethnic groups’ retirement outcomes
On the go: While it is known that people from Pakistani, Bangladeshi, black, and other minority ethnic groups suffer poorer retirement outcomes than the white majority of savers, the data collected does not allow us to properly examine why that is the case, according to the Pensions Policy Institute.
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NewsOmbudsman to speed up state pension age investigation
On the go: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is to adjust its approach to the remainder of its investigation into failures by the Department for Work and Pensions relating to changes to women’s state pension age, so it can “conclude the investigation as efficiently as possible”, having shared its preliminary views with interested parties.
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NewsGovt to change civil servants’ early pensions access
The government has proposed to change the rules around early access to pensions in the civil service, tracking 10 years behind state pension age, according to a new consultation over reforms to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.
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NewsTransfer volumes could hit £600bn as insurers post strong results
A host of insurers have revealed their first-half 2022 results that show a booming trade in risk transfers, which, by some projections, could hit £600bn over the next decade — though there are fears about a capacity crunch in the sector.